Abstract [en]

Animal migration is a well known natural phenomenon and bird migration is perhaps the most obvious type. In some bird populations all individuals migrate, while in others only a fraction of the population migrates. The blue tit is a partial migrant; i.e. some individuals in the population migrate while others are sedentary. Some years, large numbers of partial migrants leave their breeding grounds and appear as invasion species in other areas. Shortage of food and high population densities are suggested as two important releasing factors. Theory predicts that juvenile birds, especially females, should arrive earlier since they are smaller and therefore are forced to leave their birth areas first.

In this study, the migration of blue tits at Hammarö Bird Observatory in northern lake Vänern (HBO) was examined with respect to age and sex distribution. During the autumns of 1977-2005, a total number of 13 944 blue tits were caught and ringed at HBO. A large fraction of the caught blue tits were juveniles, of which female and non-sexed birds dominated. Juvenile males were the third largest group, whereas adults were only caught in small numbers. The period when most birds arrived was between 28th of September and 2nd of October, but juvenile females did not arrived significantly earlier. The median arrival date was the 2nd of October, and the mean arrival date was 30th of September. There was a trend of earlier arrival dates, which may be due to warmer spring climate leading to an earlier breeding start. Analyses showed that the proportion of juveniles increased significantly with mean arrival date and total number of birds caught. Comparison between HBO, Falsterbo and Ottenby showed that birds arrived significantly earlier at HBO. In 1990 and 2003 all bird observatories (HBO, Falsterbo, Ottenby and Jomfruland) captured more birds than respectively stations average and in 1995, 1998 and 2002 fewer birds than average were captured at all sites.